From 2008 – 2010 “ExxonMobil reported $9,910 million in pretax U.S. profits. But it enjoyed so many tax subsidies that its federal income tax bill was only $39 million, a tax rate of only 0.4 percent.” Yes, you read that right — a tax rate of only 0.4%, says Citizens for Tax Justice (PDF). I don’t know how high your tax rate was on your income in past years, but I am guessing it was a lot higher than 0.4%, right?

“… the discrepancy between Exxon Mobil’s rates and those of most American breadwinners. The company’s effective rate of 17.6 percent is nearly 16 percent below the average individual federal tax rate, which according to the Congressional Budget Office was 20.4 percent as of 2007. Individuals in the highest quintile pay an average tax rate just over 25 percent in the United States. Exxon Mobil, meanwhile, paid approximately the same effective tax rate as Americans in the fourth income quintile which includes Americans earning from $62,000 to $100,000 a year” says Think Progress.

Oil company profits have been a de-facto dinner table conversation for a few years now, what with the biggest few companies reaping wildly huge profits. In the 1st quarter of 2011 alone, Exxon/Mobil made $11 billion, Shell made $6.9 billion, BP made $7.1 billion, Chevron made $6.2 billion, and ConocoPhilips made $3.0 billion. That’s a lot of profit, even if the oil companies had to pay their fare share of taxes on it like the rest of us do. However, not only do they not pay their fare share but the government gives them about $4 billion in annual tax subsidies. Yes, our government, i.e. you and I, pay for the oil companies to get a $4 billion tax break when they are showing billions in profits. You and I effectively reduce their taxable income by $4 billion dollars each and every year. When was the last time the government, or your fellow tax-paying neighbor, handed you boat loads of money and told you they were going to help you pay your taxes, even as you were reporting record profits year after year?

Never, that’s when.

While the figures are sketchy and incredibly difficult to pin down (the oil companies like it that way), the fact remains that the average taxpayer in the United States pays a larger percentage of their income in taxes than a company making billions in profits every year. Not income, mind you. Billions in profits. And when the oil companies attempt to explain how much they pay in taxes, they forget to leave out the taxes that, wait for it, you and I pay at the pump that they have to forward on to the state and federal governments. They actually include those figures as tax dollars they themselves are paying, but that’s not them paying taxes at all — that’s us.

Angry yet?

In a time when our economy is in a recession and budget cuts are being implemented by federal, state, and local governments, you would think that it would be high time to cut the billions in subsidies that have been handed out to oil companies year after year in a time of record profits. At least, that would be the sensible thing to do, right? To be fiscally responsible? Well, at least one side of the political aisle (and even a few Dems) doesn’t seem think so, because as they are busy trying to get cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, education, and Social Security passed, the GOP doesn’t think the oil companies should pay their fare share to help out.

“Last month the House GOP voted unanimously to protect taxpayer-funded subsidies to big oil. All of the belt tightening, you see, has to be done by Medicaid and Medicare recipients, not by those poor beleaguered oil company execs.”

Think what you want about the policies of Republicans vs. Democrats, but something here stinks. Too often I hear consumers complain about the price of gas or the tax per gallon they have to pay at the pump, but the real scam here is that the oil companies are making out like bandits, not the local gas station owner or your local town government. Whether you vote blue or vote red, no company making billions and billions of dollars in profits should be receiving free taxpayer money from our government. I don’t have an issue with them making money; I have an issue with all of us having to then send them even more. They have plenty of their own money to support drilling or oil exploration and should be paying their fair share in taxes like the rest of us. Before we go cutting services to the needy, the elderly, or the education of our children, I think we need to look at where our tax dollars are going and demand they be appropriated to places they are needed and not to billion dollar corporations with money to burn.

Comments (4)

They do pay their fair share. Our government spends and wastes too much. Why should any of us have to pay for our bloated out-of-control government? Our representatives should be held responsible and should have to pay up from their personal assets. What is the government doing with the taxes it collects per gallon of gas? There is nothing to show for it. The government is the biggest fat cat, Ponsi schemist, gambling organization, and group of control freaks of all time.

The government has at times taken far more than the oil companies’ profits; the height of this was the mid-90s. If you can show me exactly what the government has done to deserve five times what the corporate profits were (1995), I’ll happily agree that they’re not paying “their fair share,” but frankly, I don’t see anything “fair” about demanding taxes at all. The government isn’t putting its own money at risk to invest in new fields. It’s just sitting back, raking in the dough, and expanding its own bureaucracy to justify it.

– Don’t ask for FEC regulations that protect us from crooked financial planners.

– Don’t ask to keep the airwaves free so your right-wing psycho radio talk show host can lie to you.

– Don’t ask for a business loan from the small business administration.

– Don’t ask to use the G.I. bill to go to college.

– Don’t allow Al Gore to sponsor legislation to turn a military computer network (DARPANet/ARPANet) into the public-accessed “Internet.”

– Don’t drive a car that benefits from government safety regulations.

– Don’t use electricity generated by TVA or some government-owned and maintained dam or facility.

– Don’t use currency printed by the US Treasury.

– Don’t use a bank or credit union that insures your deposits through the FDIC.

– Don’t buy or build a house that requires the efforts of county deed offices or needs building permits and inspections.

– Don’t get married, have children or die and expect the government to keep track of all the certificates.

– Don’t expect the government to keep an eye on cemeteries, crematories and funeral homes so you won’t get dug up and thrown in a swamp. And ask George Bush why he lied about his involvement with a company that did just that.

– Don’t run for an elected office, because the local, state and federal election commissions could be involved.

– Don’t go to a beach kept clean by the state.

– Don’t use public transportation.

– Don’t visit public museums.

– Don’t go hunting, fishing, or camping on government property.

– Don’t cross a bridge.

– Don’t use truckstops or public restrooms.

June 24, 2002 Updates

– Don’t expect the government to protect the copyright for the works you create.

– Don’t move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are higher in all
the others, except South Africa.

– Don’t expect anyone to plow your roads when it snows or sweep them when they’re dirty.

– Don’t expect the government to regulate industries that have monopolies and use that power to raise your rates for reduced service and product quality.

– Don’t expect the government to keep gasoline rates low, compared to the rest of the world.

– Don’t expect convicted criminals to be in prison and off your street.

– Don’t expect the local government to condemn private property at below market rates so that your major league baseball franchise can build a stadium on the land and make millions of dollars in profit while leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill when the courts order the government to pay the property owners a fair price.

July 26, 2002 Updates

– Don’t expect to receive a cheap land lease on Federal lands, then mine or cut the forest for your profit with no repayment to the landlord (we the people).

– Don’t expect to have uniform building codes.

– Don’t expect to go to buildings and high rises that have been reviewed and inspected during construction to ensure it was built to current building codes.

– Don’t expect to eat in restaurants that have been inspected to ensure cleanliness and the safe preparation of food.

– Don’t expect your children to be able to ride the bus to school.

– Don’t try to adopt a child through your county or state government.

– Don’t expect the state or county to pay foster parents to take care of the children left abandoned or orphaned.

– Don’t expect the state or county to investigate and/or remove children from neglectful or abusive homes.

– Don’t visit the Smithsonian.

– Don’t write any material to be published and copyright it.

– Don’t go to your book store and try to find a book by its ISBN number.

– Don’t expect the government to stop the auto companies from building SUVs that roll over and kill your wife and kids.

– Don’t expect the court to appoint a taxpayer-paid attorney to represent you (or your child) when you are accused of a crime.

– Don’t call or go to the US Embassy in a foreign country when you get in trouble.

– Don’t get a passport or try to get out of the US without a Passport.

– Don’t expect to enjoy the benefits of the most stable regime in the world.

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